22. Use a system for hanging and organizing scarves and belts. Shoving them in a drawer is no good for anyone. Try this DIY clothespin scarf and accessories home organization idea from ‘DIYS‘.
23. Use a shoe rack. Rotate out of season shoes just the way you rotate out of season clothes. No reason for six pairs of leather boots to bury all your cute sandals in July. Or check out our post at OhMeOhMy on shoe storage projects for small spaces!
24. Use hooks and pegboard on any closet wall space to hang purses, jackets, and accessories. Photo by ‘HGTV‘.
25. Use vacuum sealed bags to store out of season clothes in a tight space. Just don’t use this method on delicate fabrics, as the wrinkles could become permanent.
How to Organize Your Kitchen:
26. Organize your kitchen cabinets into categories. Make sure your cups are near the fridge so you can easily pour that afternoon juice, and your utensil drawer is near the dishwasher so you don’t have to make ten trips across the kitchen. Pots and pans? Near the stove. Kids plates? On a lower shelf so they can get to them without calling you from the first bath you have had in a month. Getting it? Also, keep your drawers organized including the misc / junk drawer that we all have. There are all kinds of household items that can be repurposed to help keep everything contained and organized.
27. Keep whatever you use for a pantry immaculate. No where does clutter make more of a mess than with food. Try our post on organizing your pantry. Don’t have a pantry? No problem, jump on over to ‘Classy Clutter‘ and find out how to make your own DIY rolling pantry. This is genius!
28. Add a kitchen island to a small kitchen to increase storage and prep space. No worries, we’ve got that covered for you too. DIY kitchen islands, and more DIY kitchen islands! Want some more? ‘Becca Mclagan‘ made this gorgeous DIY kitchen Island for under $100! Go find out how!
29. Use an inexpensive plastic lazy-susan in the back of deep cupboards, so you never forget whats hiding back there! Or make a lazy susan for each one of your kitchen cabinets with this organizing idea with step by step directions from ‘ The Art of Doing Stuff‘.
30. Try to organize tupperware in a drawer rather than a shelf, as that way you will always be able to find a matching lid. Check out our post on DIY tupperware organizers!
31. Only keep things on the counter you use often. We only keep the Keurig on the counter, even the toaster goes in the pantry and gets brought out daily when needed. And if I could convince my other half, the Vita Mix would go under the counter too! (Not the Keurig folks, at this very minute I’m sipping its second offering of the day.) (Update: Vita Mix tucked safely away in it’s very own deep drawer!) You can also make your own DIY appliance garage with this home organization idea from ‘Julie Blanner’.
32. Do you have cards and scraps of paper with scribbled recipes on them? I don’t even care if they are printed from your computer, time to come into the 21st century people. “Evernote” is a free app, where you can take photos of each recipe with your phone or tablet, add them and even organize them into folders. (Thanks to reader Karen for this tip!)
33. Have a whole closet full of plastic grocery store bags? Organize your home by tucking 10-20 into one or two bags to hang onto, then recycle your plastic bags folks!
34. Keep your fridge clean. Every time you go to the grocery store, make sure to clean out the old food and toss. Rotate older food into the front so it is used up first. Try these 7 steps to an organized fridge. Jessica at ‘Four Generations, One Roof‘ uses containers to hold items in her fridge. Love this idea!
Organizing Kid’s Rooms:
35. Need a fun organizing idea kids night actually participate in? Hang a hoop over a laundry basket for slam-dunking dirty clothes.
36. Or, place a two-compartment hamper in your kid’s room so he or she can organize light clothes from dark clothes as they undress.
37. Easy home organization ideas also come cheap! Use poster putty in your child’s room and have your child display his or her favorite artwork all on one wall, gallery style.
38. Hang a net from the ceiling to store stuffed animals, dolls, or action figures. Or use wall planters with this idea from ‘BHG‘.
Or this DIY toy swing from ‘It’s Always Autumn‘. Love this, and its an easy tutorial for such a cute project to organize your home!
39. Add wall mounted bookshelves and help your child organize their books. Make sure you remember if you place a large bookshelf in a child’s room, bolt it to the wall for safety. Need ideas? Try our post at OhMeOhMy on creative bookshelf projects.
40. Buy the kids their own alarm clocks and teach them how to get up on time. By themselves. Without you.
Other Home Organization Ideas
41. Make sure everything in your house has a home. Teach all family members to mind their own messes. For example, if you take it out, put it back; if you open it, close it; if you throw it down, pick it up; if you make a mess, clean it up; and so on.
42. Put wastebaskets in every room and place several unused trash bags in the bottom of each one. This will eliminate countless trips to retrieve new trash bags and give all family members a place to throw away their trash.
43. Make sure the remotes have a drawer, basket or shelf to live on. How often have you found it under the sofa? Better yet, make this remote control pillow with these easy instructions from ‘Make It Homemade‘! So clever, you can just turn it around when you don’t want to see the remotes, but they are always right there!
44. Use a plastic caddy to store cleaning supplies in and tote it from room to room.
45. Organize your home using a plastic laundry basket for quick pick up and transport of toys to their proper homes each evening.
46. Make a designated area for homework, crafts or sewing. You can create a very organized space in a small area, and that prevents you from having projects strewn all over the house. ‘Your Modern Family‘ created this DIY homework station, so that everything is always where it needs to be, come home school or homework time. They used inexpensive Ikea table tops to make this great study space.
47. Each night before bedtime, have all family members pick up clutter for 15 minutes. Make a game out of it and see who can pick up the most things in the shortest amount of time.
48. Have one designated spot where kids are to leave school flyers, permission slips that need to be signed and school photo envelopes. Make this part of the nightly “laying out for tomorrow” habit.
49. Make a master grocery list on the app or website of your choice. Categorize the groceries into sections such as frozen, dairy, and so on. In each category, list the most frequent items that you buy. Organize the grocery list according to the way your favorite grocery store’s isles are set up. Make sure each adult or teenager has the app loaded on their phone as well. If they forget to add Pop Tarts to the list, then they are eating oatmeal.
50. Don’t leave things ’till later. Procrastination is the number one cause of clutter and mess. Take care of it right then and there.
